Im officially a backpack traveler...

So its been 3 weeks already! It doesnt feel like 3 days! And so far ive had the best time of my life and ive got a whole year of it!

The iguasu falls was the best thing ive ever seen! I think we were ripped off but what we saw was worth double what we paid. We first got right up to the waterfall (the devils throat) and it was unbelieveable! It actually made my hairs stand up it was that good! I just hope the photos do it abit of justice. 
Next we did the upper trail which took us over the top of the fall which gave us a panaramic view - i took way too many photos! We were told people go to see the falls if their down to be happy - i actually believe that!
The lower trail was really cool too - we got right up to the fall! Ill have to upload the photos pretty quickly because im pretty shit at explaining! I recommend everyone who goes to south america to see the falls!

We took an over night bus from iguasu to buenos aires which was about 20 hours - and it was the best journey of my life! We were in luxury! The seats were like pods to yourself - similar to 1st class on a plane. We got a free meal (pork leg and potatoes - on a bus!!!!!) free beer and champage! Ive got a photo to prove it - i know it doesnt sound real. The films were also in english!!! Good start to Argentina!
We got talking to a swiss girl who was pretty cool. She was learning to make cotton bracelets which i managed to persuade her to give me her first one - an i think its my favourite!

BA was an amazing city! The people were really cool despite all the bad information were given about them. The highlights definitley has to be the all you can eat and drink buffet (which we went to twice), private argentinian party, pacha and the area central where all the shops are.
The private party was pretty funny - we got talking to an aussy who knew the birthday girl. We were expecting to go to a bar or something for a few drinks but she had rented a club out to herself! We were only allowed in after she ok'd it with the bouncer! So there we are... 2 English guys and over 200 argentinians! Brilliant! The music was awful though - shitty reggaton! We thought 'fuk it - lets show them how the brits do it'. We walked into the middle of the dancefloor and ripped it up - probably looking like twats! Nothing different ay? An then an english song came on! We sang it sooo loud! We got a few more looks haha! An argentinian girl came over asking if i was english - surely it wasnt the dancing that gave it away? She told me how they dance in the clubs... The guys are ment to walk over to the girls, take there hand, spin them, do some samba/salsa and kiss them.... One problem for me there - the samba/salsa!!! - maybe i should have paid more attention at city limits! Fun non the less though!

Next stop... Salta. Its a little town the north of argentina. Our initial plan was to go straight to La Paz but it was like a 50+ hour trip. Someone recommended salta so we gave it ago...and wasnt disappointed. It was a little quiet but it was nice after BA.
We took a trip up the cable car to the top of the hill which gives you an awesome view of the whole city. Photos need uploading - i no! The city was bigger than i thought though.
We decided to buy a bottle of vodka, orange juice and redbull..... For £3 each!!! Unbelieveable price! Although i no to never spunge on the price of vodka anymore! Bad times! Cant remember much of that night lol.
We shared a room with 2 swedish girls that were pretty cool - on the same wave length as us, which is hard to find haha. They were off to bolivia too, on the same route as us sonwe decided to go together. One bonus thing is that one of them can speak fluent spanish!!!
Getting to bolivia (La Paz) isnt an easy thing to do though... A bus up to the boarder (la quiaca), cross into bolivia (villazon), a train to Oruro (nice city) and then a bus ride into La Paz! All in all a 30+ hour trip!
I definitely appreciate what i have at home now though - safety, plug sockets, door locks, a toilet seat, warm water, clean sheets... But it also makes you understand what some people have to go through. Its sad in some ways but this is their lives - their happy.
The prices in Bolivia is so much cheaper! We got a room for £2 each! Ok it was great but im not here to stay in hotels!
The first view of La Paz was amazing! Its located on a steep hill which your first view is from the top! The city is unbelieveably steep! And been at altitude makes getting around alot harder - making you out of breath alot quicker.
People here though are so cool. So friendly which i hope thats not been naive. They dont no alot of english an i dont no alot of spanish but there always there to help - or maybe there to stop you stealing! Theyve always got a smile on their faces. The most popular thing it seems is the market areas - there seems to be loads around. It makes getting things alot cheaper too like wooly hats, gloves, souveniors, food. One thing i want to try is having a meal cooked on the street corner next to the road. They set out what looks like a plank of wood for the table, some sort of stump for the chairs with a gas stove infront of you. I no its got food poison written all over it but fuck it! - embrace the culture.
So far i think La Paz is my favourite city. It just seems so different but similar at them same time. We have to leave here by the end of the week to Peru because of the Inca Trail but im def heading back after!
Tomorrow we are riding down the bolivian death road! Most of you should know it from top gear! I actually cant wait for it. The views are ment to be amazing but its a tad high! And heights arent my strong point! We shall see though!

Im sorry this is so long again! I should really update more frequently! Ive started another blog at http://adammcleish.ontheroad.to/around-the-world/ which allows me to show my location, photos and abit writing which is easier for me as i can do it straight from my phone. Ive been updating this one more often.

I hope all is well with everyone! And hope your not missing me too much!

Til next time x

So here i am...

Well if your reading this post you'll be happy to know that im still alive! One week down... Many more to go! And what an awesome time we're having! The only down side is that south america, especially Brazil, isnt cheap but i wont bore you with sll that!

First impressions after landing in rio was 'what the fuck are we doin here!'. Nobody speaks english, everyone looks like there about to mug you and somehow we had to get to our hostel - good start!

Our taxi driver pulled up to a quiet little street and mumbled some words which we reckon translated to 'we're here'. The only thing we could see were a lot of locked gates - surely this wasnt it! After been instructed that our hostel was number 95, we rang the doorbell and hoped for the best. A scary brazilian face peeped over the gate just checking that we were'nt about to rob the place! - that gets a big tick for saftey ha!
We got escorted to our room, which was the smallest thing id ever seen, loaded with 3 bunk beds. The room itself didnt have a door and only had 2 proper walls - i blame Andy for bookin this one! :-p
Funniest thing about it was that Andy was lumped with the top bunk.... Which had no sides to it! I was prayin all night he was goin to fall out!
We arrived late as it was so decided for the early night - sleeping with everything on our beds! Welcome to Brazil!

Surely the next day would be an improvement? We found out it was brazils national independence day meaning everything was shut! We had a wonder around our location but there wasnt much point - plus we were pretty close to some favelas!
We managed to book ourselves onto a tour which would show us the whole city and hopefully tell us something about it! - also having a guide felt a whole lot safer than tryin it on our own! The weather wasnt great for the views but the camera doesnt do it justice to what we saw! We were taken up the hills to where the christ the reedemer was standing. We were able to take quite a few photos on the way up which hopefully you will see soon. The whole experience was incredible! One of the main thing that gets me is the brazilian driving - there all bonkers! Stick to one lane? Naaaah! Will pass someone just to make up half a second! Surprisingly i havent seen a crash!
Comin to the end of the tour our guide takes us to a place called Lapa - basically the party area! He told us not to take anything valuable or bulky in the pockets here, giving us the impression it wasnt a nice place.... So what does he do? Parks up the van and says 'food anyone?'. Everyone on the tour is there with cameras, money, bags etc but there wasnt a great deal we could do. Ive never felt so out of place in my life! Everyone on the street basically stopped what they were doin and stared at us! Our guide was all out with open arms, greeting his friends which made us think that this guy wasnt just a tour guide! It was all good though! All part of the experience being with the locals, although i have to question the food - chicken, chips and rice isnt a meal guys!
Got back to the hostel and we crashed out a little - i think jet lag was with us. I got up before andy and went for a wonder round the communal room to find someone had put bloody glee on tv! Glee in Rio?! Fuck me! Everyone was friendly in there though. You get chatting about their experiences and what their doin next, which can give us a few ideas too along the way. My opinion about this place changed - i just wished the weather would brighten up!

Well after getting abit giddy after the first tour, the next day we wanted to go handgliding off one of the cliffs next to the sugar loaf (see photos). We never got to do it though because the weather pissed it down, which made the day abit grim! We stayed about in the hostel for most of it but so did everybody else. I got chatting to some more cool people which i probably wouldnt have done if we went out. Note to self: ask the names of the people your talkin too! Everyone gets caught up telling their stories that askin their names slips you by! Pain in the arse though because there are people i would have liked to stay in contact with.

The next day was time to move! Fuck Rio and its shit weather! Shame though because i was warmin to the city! Our initial plan was to move to sao paulo but after talkin, we got told that was a city for people that knew peoplr their - otherwise it was pants! We got told instead to go to a little island called ilha grande - a small island just off sao paulo ish. Have a little google search - thats what made us go there!
It was quite a task getting their though - we got told to get the local bus to the terminal, then a coach to the port and a boat to ilha grande! This tested our 'traveling skills'. Getting a bus - easy! Getting to the terminal - not so easy! Our bus stopped at what looked like a local bus depot which we knew wasnt our stop. After a few exchanging with the driver, both not knowing what one was saying, he decided he'd had enough, shut the bus doors and took us round to another bus we needed to catch - why couldnt he have just said that?! The clown.
From there it was easy going, just abit of waiting around.
Finally got there and we thought
Strolling through the beaches insearch of our hostel, we couldnt help but admire what we had found! Truely awesome! Ahead in the distance we see a sweet housey/hostel on the corner of the bay and we thought 'naaaah couldnt be! Looks way too good for £10 a night'... But it sure was! Jackpot! It was such a cool hostel - the rooms were big, ensuite CLEAN bathroom. We were so happy! We had a decking balacony outside our room which looked over the main area of the island... Pretty sweet. We chilled out with a couple, maybe a few more haha, and did abit of exploring.

We heard that 1 of the top 10 beaches was on the island - Lopez Mendes! It was either £6-7 return by boat or you could do the 2.5 hour walk. For some reason i felt like John Locke - i had my backpack and water and i was off. It was such a good walk with great views, but by hell it was long! We reached a beach after around 1 hour and we thought we had made it... Nope! Keep walking lads! This happened another 3 times! - they werent lying! It was 2.5 hours!
Finally made it! Golden white silky sand, crashing blue waves! I think its one of the best beaches ive ever been too! Rookie error though - you coildnt buy food there and we didnt take any! Oops. We stayed a few hours and decided to catch the boat back! - the walk was good but not that good!

The next morning we got up, had the usual cheese n ham sandwich that was given out (not by choice) and headed inside the lobby area to extend our stay.... Only to find man utd playing everton! And it was only 10 oclock in the mornin! Champion!!! Saw the second half which was decent til the last 3mins in injury time! Oh well, id watched football and was on a beach before midday!

We left ilha grande (9am) the next morning to head for Argentina/foz de iguazu. We got told the trip would take around 30 hours! - grim! So we load the boat, head for the first bus terminal and go down to sao paulo which was a 7 hour trip (7.30pm) to get a night bus to foz de iguazu. That trip was abit hazey but we got in at 10.30am the next day! That was pretty tough - especially when they play the chipmunks movie dubbed in portuguse - squeeking little basterds!

So tomorrow we're doing the bit im most looking forward to - seeing the waterfall from the argentine side! And from there we think were going to beunos aires (17hour night bus!)
There we are! Sorry its long but i want to fill you in on everything and hopefully give you a taste of whats happening! So mum stop crying now - if you would lile to donate me anymore money, feel free!
If you have the time, drop me a comment - i would love to know how your all getting on.
Much love x

Countdown...

Hey! Welcome to my little blog that im hoping to carry out through and update regularly whilst im away on my travels.  Ive tried thinking of more creative ways to keep a track of my experiences, but it think this way is the easiest and safest way for you guys to follow.  Also, it will be a saviour for my dad, as mum will be at home worrying! I guess she has a point....It is Andy im traveling with!

Well it only felt like yesterday when i last checked my countdown clock that said i had '200 days' remaining before the adventure will start... Now it says 3!  Its sort of becoming a reality and im ready to grab onto it with both hands!


For those who dont no, im setting out to travel the world for 1 year with my best mate Andy.  We are off to see the sites of many beautiful and extraordinary places, as well as people.  Our first task though is to navigate our way down to london, with a little help from our friend - The Megabus!


Where are we going?


6/9/2010 - Rio De Janeiro (Brazil).  Here we are hoping to see the famous Christ the Reedemer, Sugar Loaf mountain and work a little tan on the famous beach - Copacabana!  From here we will travel down south, through Uruguay to Argentina, which Andy is salivating over the though of eating a whole cow for $2! Each to their own :P but im really looking forward to seeing the Iguazu Falls!
From here we will be traveling up though Paraguay, Boliva and Peru, with no-doubt some epic stories on the way, to hike the inca trail.

Iguazu Falls

2/11/2010 - Christ Church (New Zealand).  This is probably where most of the stories are going to come from.  Although this is where we will be spending the least amount of time, its the thought of traveling around the whole of New Zealand for 3 weeks....IN A CAMPERVAN! Thats right... Me, Andy and the open road!  Along the way im hoping to complete a set of extreme sports, including ski diving, bungee jumping and water rafting....Oh yeah mum - you shouldn't read that bit.


3/12/2010 - Sydney (Australia). I dont really no what to expect here.  We have around 5 months where we can do anything! Shrimp on the BBQ on Christmas day? Yes please! We have been approved a working visa to help top up the funds as we go along the way (Yes i do know the working visa doesnt give you money... You have to earn it!).  I think the one thing im looking forward to though is the trip up the east coast to Cairns.  Ive heard many great things about it and im sure will experience it!


17/5/2011 - Bangkok (South East Asia).  Thats right.... Lady boys!!! Now for some reason Andys well excited for this part - No idea why! Here we will be hoping to travel through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia to experience another way of life!  We havent really thought about what we're doing here as its so far away, but we've heard that you can blow chickens up with a rocket launcher... Sounds like fun!

Well there it is! A little inside of what we're going to be getting up to.  Things will no doubt change along the way but it gives you an idea.  I hope you all will keep a tabs on my journey as i will do my upmost to keep you up to date.  Im pretty sure ive said most of my goodbyes to you all and hope your all jealous... But here it is again - Goodbye :D  Keep intouch either with comments on here or on facebook.


Much love x